A recently popular form of exercise and therapy, aquatic exercising devices present unique operating conditions to the body because of their use of water resistance and their buoyancy. By making proper use of water resistance, such devices can provide the body with excellent muscular and cardiovascular training. At the same time, the buoyancy offered by these devices eliminates the stress and injuries associated with the jarring impact of such land-based exercises as running and aerobics. Aquatic exercise devices are frequently of the type having a fixed buoyancy such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,689,030 to McWaters and 5,000,710 to Bedortha et al. Other aquatic exercise devices such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,312,976 to Pels and 4,496,328 to Asher et al, have inflatable chambers which have a tendency to ride up on the body of the user.
Although the foregoing aquatic exercise devices have been available, there are still major problems involved in their use. The fixed buoyancy devices can not be adjusted sufficiently in buoyancy to place a patient receiving physical therapy in the optimal biomechanical position for basic aquatic exercises. The inflatable aquatic exercise devices ride upward on the body and tend to irritate the skin. Additionally, the use of shoulder and torso straps tend to make the use of these devices uncomfortable to the user.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an aquatic exercise system which places substantially all patients in the optimal biomechanical position while simultaneously preventing the undesirable migration of the device with respect to the body during use.
Yet another object of the invention is to allow the user to perform running or other exercises in water in a manner that allows the exact duplication of that exercise as performed on land.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an aquatic exercise device that requires fewer parts and, thus, is smaller, especially when deflated, and is easier to manufacture. It is still a further object of the present invention that the aquatic exercise device be simple and cost effective to manufacture, yet reliable and efficient in use.
Yet another object of the present invention to provide an aquatic exercise device comprising at least two substantially identical flexible sheets of gas impermeable material being sealed together to form a plurality of separate variably inflatable chambers. Each of the chambers has an outlet means for selectively inflating, deflating and sealing the chamber. An uninflatable strip is formed between at least two of the chambers to define a hinge therebetween. The two chambers and the hinge conforming closely to the contours of the human body. The two sheets are attached to the human body.